Some Quick Thoughts on Biden

Eight hours behind the wheel gives you some time to think and I spent some of that time trying to imagine what possible good Joe Biden will do for the Obama campaign. Here are some of the random thoughts that hit me as we motored up I-5:

1. Obama was on a downward arc at the time of the VP announcement. Yes, he got all kinds of attention last week, but I don't think it was the kind of attention that draws voters. If anything, it might have aggravated a lot of people who got tired of staring at their cell phones waiting to hear who Obama's "Mystery Date" was going to be. This announcement did not stop that downward arc - in fact he may have gained some new "Joementum" as his numbers slide back and past McCain's.


2. There were three possible VP candidates that scared me: Sen. Evan Bayh - good looking youngish guy with pretty wide appeal in a red state, Gov. Tim Kaine - as inexperienced as Obama but very popular in his home red state, and the 800 pound gorilla, Sen. Hillary Clinton. Clinton's choice would have been a game-changer. The PUMA crowd and other ardent Hillary supporters would have lined up behind the ticket and that ticket might well have produced the unified party the Dems have so desperately wanted. Instead, Hillary was (pardon my French) bitch-slapped by Obama who didn't even bother to vet her. Hillary received 18,000,000 votes in the primary (give or take the Operation Chaos crowd), and Biden received 9,500. The convention is going to be interesting.


3. Evan Bayh, Tim Kaine or Hillary Clinton would have put some red states in place. Bayh in Indiana, Kaine in Virginia, and Clinton in Arkansas, Ohio, and possibly other red states where she did well in the primaries. Joe Biden brings nothing...nothing to the table in terms of helping the ticket in key states. Delaware is as solidly blue as they come, as is nearly all of the Northeast. Red state folks don't care much for Northeastern liberals (just as President Kerry and President Dukakis), and they won't think much of Biden either.


4. As documented many times on this blog Biden is a walking gaffe machine. Just click on the "Joe Biden" label below and see for yourself. He's already made some slips in his opening speech, and there are more to come.


5. Biden is only six years younger than John McCain and has been in the Senate since he was 29. So much for "change".


6. Biden dropped out of the 1988 presidential race after charges of plagiarism came up, and on the even of the New Hampshire primary was found to have a brain aneurism that required two surgeries to fix. He also missed seven months in the Senate. That's the same illness the suddenly struck down Congressman Stephanie Tubbs Jones just last week. I guess this is where "hope" comes in.


7. Biden is a media whore. The most dangerous place in the world is not between a mother bear and her cubs but between a camera and Joe Biden. He'll be getting lots of attention and will give all of us bloggers lots to write about. I'm not sure how the Obamessiah is going to react to sharing the spotlight.

Bottom line - I think Obama botched the first big personnel choice of his potential administration, and it doesn't bode well for his future.

Note: The campaign poster above came from TheRealBarackObama.wordpress.com.